


Fall from Grace

by hannasus



Category: Leverage
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-06 14:48:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6758488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannasus/pseuds/hannasus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Parker fell time stopped.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fall from Grace

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr prompt fic. Eliot/Parker: things you said when you were scared. As with a lot of my Eliot/Parker fics, I left it kind of open to interpretation, so hopefully you can enjoy this whether you ship them as friends, more than friends, or part of an OT3.

When Parker fell time stopped.

Eliot was all the way on the other side of the building, waiting for her to let him in the service door, so he didn’t see it happen. He only heard it over the comms, clear as crystal. 

There was an aborted curse—a single syllable muttered under her breath and then cut off before she could fully form the word—followed a moment later by the sound of the impact. It was a sound so terrible, so _terrifying,_ that Eliot knew it would be a regular feature in his nightmares for weeks and months to come.

It was followed by an oppressive, sickening silence.

He could visualize the scene perfectly in his mind: Parker’s slim body falling through the air, graceful even in the throes of catastrophe. Hurtling inexorably towards the ground. Hitting the concrete with a grisly smack. Limbs twisted and broken. Blood pooling beneath her on the concrete.

A surge of adrenaline shot through his system, propelling him into action. Parker’s name spilled from his lips as he took off running, the roaring of his pulse drowning out the sound of Hardison’s own panicky calls for her over the comms.

Fear pooled in the pit of Eliot’s stomach when he rounded the corner of the building and caught sight of her body on the ground. Motionless.

No no no no _no_.

“Goddamnit, Parker, don’t you dare die on me,” Eliot hissed as he knelt beside her.

There wasn’t any blood and nothing seemed obviously broken from the position she was in, but she _wasn’t moving,_ dammit. His fingers fumbled at her throat for a pulse. When he found one he exhaled, every muscle in his body sagging in relief.

“She’s alive,” he said into the comm, his voice breaking a little. “I’ve got a pulse.”

He heard Hardison’s harsh exhalation on the other end. “How bad is it? Do I need to call 911?”

“I don’t know yet, hang on.” Eliot reached up and slipped the earbud out of her ear. “Come on, Parker,” he muttered under his breath. “ _Please._ ”

Her eyes fluttered open— _thank fucking God—_ and she blinked up at him, dazed and unfocused. Her pupils looked normal, though, so that was a good sign. A really good sign.

“Parker,” he said softly, brushing her hair back from her face. “Hey, Parker, you with me?”

After a second her vision seemed to clear and her gaze locked onto him. Her forehead crinkled. “Eliot?”

“Yeah,” he said, unable to suppress his smile. “Yeah, I got you.”

“Eliot?” Hardison demanded anxiously.

“She’s okay,” he replied. “Gimme me a minute.” Parker started to try to get up and Eliot held her in place. “Don’t try to move yet.”

She stilled obediently. “Why do you look like that?”

“Like what?”

“You’re smiling. You never smile.”

“Do you remember falling?” he asked, schooling his features.

“Yeah. Stupid cheap masonry fell apart under my hands.”

“How high up were you?”

“Not high.”

“What floor?” he asked, because Parker’s idea of not high wasn’t the same as a sane person’s idea of not high.

“Second,” she answered, and then after another moment’s thought: “Second and a half.”

That wasn’t too bad, actually. He’d seen her drop from that height on purpose and be just fine. It was different when it wasn’t on purpose, though. When it took you by surprise and you didn’t have time to make sure you landed safely.

“Does anything hurt?” he asked, crouching behind her head and running his hands down the back of her neck, checking the vertebrae for signs of injury.

“My right ankle. I landed bad on it. So stupid.”

Eliot shifted around to her feet, reached for her ankle. “You’re lucky it wasn’t worse.”

“Ow,” she complained when he manipulated it.

“Probably a sprain. Anything else hurt?”

“No.”

He moved back around to her head, and gently ran his fingers through her hair, over the surface of her scalp. “You’ve got a pretty good lump back here, you sure it doesn’t hurt?”

“Maybe a little,” she admitted.

He grunted, knowing she was underplaying it, and knowing why.

“Well?” she asked impatiently. “What’s the verdict, doc?”

“I think you’re okay, but we’re gonna take you to the hospital for a CT scan just to make sure.”

She pushed her lower lip out. “I don’t want to go to the hospital.”

“Too bad. You get a head injury, you get a CT scan. We’ll tell ’em you were rock climbing at the gym and they can x-ray that ankle while you’re there. You got all that, Hardison?”

“Yeah,” he answered in that clipped tone he got when he was doing a bunch of things all at once. “Good Samaritan’s the closest. I’ll meet you there with the ID and insurance card.”

“You still look weird,” Parker said, narrowing her eyes at Eliot. “All shaky and tense.”

“You scared the shit out of me,” he growled. “I didn’t know how high up you were when you fell and for a second there—” He clamped his mouth shut, refusing to finish the thought out loud.

“I didn’t think you got scared,” Parker said quietly.

Eliot looked away, swallowing down the adrenaline burn he could still taste in the back of his throat. “Yeah, well, I do.”

Her hand slipped into his and squeezed. “I’m sorry I scared you.”

He squeezed her hand back. “Just don’t do it again.”

“Help me up?” she asked, holding her arms out toward him.

Eliot leaned down and let her wind her arms around his neck. He slipped his hands under her shoulder blades and gently guided her up into a sitting position.

“Whoa,” she breathed, tipping her head forward and resting it on his shoulder.

“Dizzy?” he asked, tightening his arms around her.

“Yeah.”

“Give it a minute.”

She nodded, her breath hot on his neck, her body curled against his. After a long moment she raised her head. “Okay.”  

Slowly, carefully, Eliot got to his feet, pulling her with him. Her arms tightened around his neck and she leaned into his chest, keeping the weight off her injured ankle. “You okay?” he asked.

“Yep,” she said.

“Can you put any weight on that ankle?”

She tested it gingerly. “Nope,” she hissed, clenching her teeth.

Eliot bent down, hooked an arm under her knees, and swept her up off her feet.

“Whoa,” she said, clinging to him. “Are you really gonna carry me all the way to the van?”

“Course I am.” He’d carry her to the end of the earth if she needed him to. “I told you, I got you.”

“Yeah,” she said, smiling at him. “You always do.”


End file.
